Early postoperative outcomes of dunking pancreatojejunostomy

Background: There is no gold standard method for pancreatico-enteric reconstruction.  In our department, dunking pancreatojejunostomy (DPJ) and Duct to mucosa PJ technique are done as per surgeon’s choice.  In this study, authors evaluate the early postoperative outcomes following DPJ based on ISGPS (2007).Methods: A Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from January 2008 to December 2015. Detailed information on these patients was maintained on a prospectively held computerized database. Routine drain amylase estimations are being done on POD 3and 5 for all patients undergoing pancreatic resections and on all subsequent days if output is suggestive of pancreatic fistula. Details of patients who have undergone pancreatic resection with duct to mucosa type of pancreato-intestinal anastomosis during the same period (64 patients) were also collected prospectively and analysed. DPJ and Duct to mucosa groups were not comparable with respect to age, duct size, pancreatic gland texture and co-morbidities. Hence direct comparison between the two groups has not been carried out.Results: A total of 75 of 139 pancreatic resections with pancreatointestinal anastomosis who had dunking PJ and fulfilled the study criteria were analysed; none were excluded for analysing early outcomes. 19 out of 75 (25.5%) developed grade ‘A’ POPF, five out of 75 (6.6%) developed Grade ‘B’ POPF and three out of 75 (3.3%) developed Grade ‘C’ POPF. 20 out of 75 (26.6%) had grade ‘A’ DGE, five out of 75 (6.6%) had grade ‘B’ DGE. PPH occurred in four out of 75 (5.3%), two out of four were early PPH, one was managed by coiling and other by re-laparotomy, two were late PPH both managed by coiling of the pseudo aneurysms. There was no 30-day mortality.Conclusions: Dunking (Invagiantion) pancreatojejunostomy has accepatable early outcomes with clinically significant/relevant postoperative pancreatic fistula rates of Grade B (6.6%) and Grade C (4%), delayed gastric emptying (33.2%) and post pancreatic hemorrhage (5.3%) rates. The outcomes are comparable with Duct-to-mucosa PJ mentioned in literature

Maps: Model-based analysis of long-range chromatin interactions from PLAC-seq and HiChIP experiments

Hi-C and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) have been combined to identify long-range chromatin interactions genome-wide at reduced cost and enhanced resolution, but extracting information from the resulting datasets has been challenging. Here we describe a computational method, MAPS, Model-based Analysis of PLAC-seq and HiChIP, to process the data from such experiments and identify long-range chromatin interactions. MAPS adopts a zero-truncated Poisson regression framework to explicitly remove systematic biases in the PLAC-seq and HiChIP datasets, and then uses the normalized chromatin contact frequencies to identify significant chromatin interactions anchored at genomic regions bound by the protein of interest. MAPS shows superior performance over existing software tools in the analysis of chromatin interactions from multiple PLAC-seq and HiChIP datasets centered on different transcriptional factors and histone marks

Integrating transposable elements in the 3D genome

Chromosome organisation is increasingly recognised as an essential component of genome regulation, cell fate and cell health. Within the realm of transposable elements (TEs) however, the spatial information of how genomes are folded is still only rarely integrated in experimental studies or accounted for in modelling. Whilst polymer physics is recognised as an important tool to understand the mechanisms of genome folding, in this commentary we discuss its potential applicability to aspects of TE biology. Based on recent works on the relationship between genome organisation and TE integration, we argue that existing polymer models may be extended to create a predictive framework for the study of TE integration patterns. We suggest that these models may offer orthogonal and generic insights into the integration profiles (or "topography") of TEs across organisms. In addition, we provide simple polymer physics arguments and preliminary molecular dynamics simulations of TEs inserting into heterogeneously flexible polymers. By considering this simple model, we show how polymer folding and local flexibility may generically affect TE integration patterns. The preliminary discussion reported in this commentary is aimed to lay the foundations for a large-scale analysis of TE integration dynamics and topography as a function of the three-dimensional host genome

Impact of nano-silicon fuel additive on combustion, performance and emission of a twin cylinder CI engine

Combustion characteristics of a fuel defines its performance and emission characteristics. Enhancement of combustion characteristics is feasible by improvisation of fuel properties. Fuel additives were used for varying fuel properties. The evolution of ‘nano-concept’ develops countless applications in the existing technologies. In this experiment silicon nanoparticles were synthesized by ball milling micron sized silicon particles for 45 hours. The elemental and structural characterizations for the additive material were carried out by EDS, SEM and TEM analysis. Silicon nano additive was mixed in three different weight proportions with diesel to prepare the test fuels. The fuel properties variation with the addition of nano additive were studied. Engine testing was carried out at constant 1200 rpm speed and varying load conditions. Diesel fuel added with 0.5 wt% Si nanoadditive (Si 0.5) showed maximum load carrying ability among the different test fuels. In comparison with diesel at 1200 rpm and 100% load condition, an increase in torque of 5.91% was observed and BTE was increased by 8.93% with a decrease in NOx emission by 27.3%. Variation in the performance and emission characteristics of the fuels were the results of change in heat release rate and combustion timing with the addition of nano additives which could be studied from the combustion characteristic curves

Impact of nano-silicon fuel additive on combustion, performance and emission of a twin cylinder CI engine

Combustion characteristics of a fuel defines its performance and emission characteristics. Enhancement of combustion characteristics is feasible by improvisation of fuel properties. Fuel additives were used for varying fuel properties. The evolution of ‘nano-concept’ develops countless applications in the existing technologies. In this experiment silicon nanoparticles were synthesized by ball milling micron sized silicon particles for 45 hours. The elemental and structural characterizations for the additive material were carried out by EDS, SEM and TEM analysis. Silicon nano additive was mixed in three different weight proportions with diesel to prepare the test fuels. The fuel properties variation with the addition of nano additive were studied. Engine testing was carried out at constant 1200 rpm speed and varying load conditions. Diesel fuel added with 0.5 wt% Si nanoadditive (Si 0.5) showed maximum load carrying ability among the different test fuels. In comparison with diesel at 1200 rpm and 100% load condition, an increase in torque of 5.91% was observed and BTE was increased by 8.93% with a decrease in NOx emission by 27.3%. Variation in the performance and emission characteristics of the fuels were the results of change in heat release rate and combustion timing with the addition of nano additives which could be studied from the combustion characteristic curves

Analysis of 3D genomic interactions identifies candidate host genes that transposable elements potentially regulate

Abstract Background The organization of chromatin in the nucleus plays an essential role in gene regulation. About half of the mammalian genome comprises transposable elements. Given their repetitive nature, reads associated with these elements are generally discarded or randomly distributed among elements of the same type in genome-wide analyses. Thus, it is challenging to identify the activities and properties of individual transposons. As a result, we only have a partial understanding of how transposons contribute to chromatin folding and how they impact gene regulation. Results Using PCR and Capture-based chromosome conformation capture (3C) approaches, collectively called 4Tran, we take advantage of the repetitive nature of transposons to capture interactions from multiple copies of endogenous retrovirus (ERVs) in the human and mouse genomes. With 4Tran-PCR, reads are selectively mapped to unique regions in the genome. This enables the identification of transposable element interaction profiles for individual ERV families and integration events specific to particular genomes. With this approach, we demonstrate that transposons engage in long-range intra-chromosomal interactions guided by the separation of chromosomes into A and B compartments as well as topologically associated domains (TADs). In contrast to 4Tran-PCR, Capture-4Tran can uniquely identify both ends of an interaction that involve retroviral repeat sequences, providing a powerful tool for uncovering the individual transposable element insertions that interact with and potentially regulate target genes. Conclusions 4Tran provides new insight into the manner in which transposons contribute to chromosome architecture and identifies target genes that transposable elements can potentially control